It's good to see Tali the younger finally stepping into the wider world of SotS. Also, it would seem (or can be surmised) that Tali's major gene mod just happened to skip a generation. Most interesting indeed.

>Most interesting... >>It's good to see Tali the younger finally stepping into the wider >world of SotS. Also, it would seem (or can be surmised) that Tali's >major gene mod just happened to skip a generation. Most interesting >indeed.

Maybe it only manifests on maturity, and Rael's got his head too far up his arse to have ever noticed.

>Maybe it only manifests on maturity, and Rael's got his head too far >up his arse to have ever noticed.

Well, that's almost certain. But how often do quarians see each other sans suit? It might not be that difficult to go without noticing it for years because no one sees you retaining the same physical age. (Of course, Zira might have noticed it, and he might have brushed it off.)

"Everyone gets lost in the darknessDreamers learn to steer by the stars..." - Rush, "The Pass"

>>Maybe it only manifests on maturity, and Rael's got his head too far >>up his arse to have ever noticed. >>Well, that's almost certain. But how often do quarians see each other >sans suit? It might not be that difficult to go without noticing it >for years because no one sees you retaining the same physical age. (Of >course, Zira might have noticed it, and he might have brushed it off.)

Maybe, maybe not. Rael strikes me as the 'separate beds' type, and it's not like he and Zira had any need to break his seals after they got done making Tali.

>Maybe, maybe not. Rael strikes me as the 'separate beds' type, and >it's not like he and Zira had any need to break his seals after they >got done making Tali.

That seems likely. After all, something like that might get in the way of his military career, and he couldn't have THAT.... (I know pretty much all we've ever seen of Rael has been Tali the Elder holding forth about him in her letters, but you really get the impression that his career was like an openly-flaunted mistress that Zira was second place to, and Tali the Younger.... well, that's been made pretty plain.)

"Everyone gets lost in the darknessDreamers learn to steer by the stars..." - Rush, "The Pass"

>>Maybe, maybe not. Rael strikes me as the 'separate beds' type, and >>it's not like he and Zira had any need to break his seals after they >>got done making Tali. >>That seems likely. After all, something like that might get in the >way of his military career, and he couldn't have THAT.... (I know >pretty much all we've ever seen of Rael has been Tali the Elder >holding forth about him in her letters, but you really get the >impression that his career was like an openly-flaunted mistress that >Zira was second place to, and Tali the Younger.... well, that's been >made pretty plain.)

Really? That wasn't the impression I got. It was made clear to me that he did, in fact, actually love his wife very much (see his self destructive behavior immediately after her death), and the fact that he was willing to grovel for forgiveness.

I don't doubt that Rael did love Zira, or that he does love Tali, but the advancement of his career does seem to have an overriding priority in most circumstances. That, combined with his fixation on reconquering Rannoch and disapproval of anything not clearly aimed at that end (such as his daughter's choice of pilgrimage), doesn't paint the most admirable of pictures.

It probably doesn't help that we mostly know about him from Tali the Elder's correspondence; her exasperated tone when speaking of his decisions and family interaction is genuinely felt, but she may not be seeing the whole picture when it comes to his household.

"Everyone gets lost in the darknessDreamers learn to steer by the stars..." - Rush, "The Pass"

>I don't doubt that Rael did love Zira, or that he does love Tali, but >the advancement of his career does seem to have an overriding priority >in most circumstances. That, combined with his fixation on >reconquering Rannoch and disapproval of anything not clearly aimed at >that end (such as his daughter's choice of pilgrimage), doesn't paint >the most admirable of pictures.

"No, I think you're just going to have to bite the bullet and accept the fact that, although a fine and upstanding officer and a highly proficient spacer, your son is a little bit of a dick. It happens."

>>Maybe it only manifests on maturity, and Rael's got his head too far >>up his arse to have ever noticed. >>Well, that's almost certain. But how often do quarians see each other >sans suit? It might not be that difficult to go without noticing it >for years because no one sees you retaining the same physical age. (Of >course, Zira might have noticed it, and he might have brushed it off.)

Is it official, then, that said mod was some equivalent of Omega? I don't remember it ever being mentioned in print, and had assumed it was simply a retuning of the immune system (which admittedly is part of Omega, but not the whole thing.)

Neither Tali nor Mordin was entirely sure what it would do at the time, but it came up a couple of times in Correspondence that she doesn't seem to age. Mordin's starting point was the salarian "bootleg" version of Omega-2, which had to be considerably adjusted to have any effect on a quarian at all - so much so that even he wasn't sure how many of its functions survived the transcription process. Decades on, empirical evidence indicates that the answer is "most, if not all."

Interestingly, though Mordin was the lead researcher on the salarian Omega-2 project, he hasn't had the final version of the treatment himself. The preliminary model he used was a highly effective life extension, but - as he alludes to himself at one point in Star-Crossed - didn't address many of the cosmetic effects of aging, which is why he still looks quite elderly for a salarian. Of course, that may also be because he finds it useful to seem more decrepit than he is. In his old line of work, being underestimated often came in handy.

>Interestingly, though Mordin was the lead researcher on the salarian >Omega-2 project, he hasn't had the final version of the treatment >himself. The preliminary model he used was a highly effective life >extension, but - as he alludes to himself at one point in >Star-Crossed - didn't address many of the cosmetic effects of >aging, which is why he still looks quite elderly for a salarian. Of >course, that may also be because he finds it useful to seem more >decrepit than he is. In his old line of work, being underestimated >often came in handy.

I apparently have the dumb tonight. I neither remember what the big undescribed (genetic, as implied by the other comments) plot element of this piece is, nor do I remember what story it originates in, and thus, where to find it. Could I be pointed in the right direction?